Slovene Banks Preparing Propositions for Custody Accounts

Ljubljana, 8 March - TOPIC/WEEK
The Bank of Slovenia issued a decree (which came into force on 10 February) a month ago regulating the manner of handling payments with foreign persons. The decision foresees that foreign investors in the Slovene capital market have to open custody accounts at merchant banks in Slovenia prior to purchasing or selling Slovene securities. As the two regulations from the decree concerning the keeping of custody accounts are to come into force Monday (10 March), Slovene banks are currently preparing their propositions to be submitted to foreign investors. Some of the 14 banks in Slovenia authorized to perform operations through custody accounts have already prepared their propositions specifying amounts of money and costs within which they are going to conclude an agreement with foreigners. However, the majority of banks are still preparing their proposition. According to preliminary estimations, the total amount offered by all the banks in the proposition for custody accounts is to reach form 100 to 120 million German marks (DEM), while the costs of keeping custody accounts are to be between 9 - 12 and even up to 15 percent annualy.